wainwright



(No Model.) .2 sheets-sheet 2.

J. T. 'WA IlWmIGfHT'l METHOD 0F WORKING HEAT REGBNERATORS.

No. 483,752. Patented Oct. 4, 1892.

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UNITED STATES y PATENT OFFICE.

JACOB T. wAiNWEiGi-IT, 0E PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

METHOD OF WORKING HEAT-REGNERATORS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 483,752, dated October 4, 1892.

Application iiled August 28, 1388i To LZ/Z whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JACOB T. WAINWEIGHT, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Method of Vorking Heat-Regenerators, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

In the accompanying drawings I show apparatus embodying my invention, and shall describe the invention with reference thereto, premising, however, that the apparatus is susceptible of modification in divers waysin form and construction, as will be understood by those skilled in the art.

Figure l of the drawings shows the apparatus in section, that part above the floor-line being in vertical section and the part below the iioor-line being in horizontal section. Figs. 2 and 3 are views of modified forms of apparatus embodying the invention.

Like symbols of reference indicate like parts in each,

My invention has relation to the art of operating regenerative hot-blast stoves in connection with metallurgical furnaces, and has its special application, in connection with the use of the cheaper grades of gas-fuel, in reducing, melting, and heating furnaces.

Attempts which have heretofore been made in the application of fuel-gas for this use have not been satisfactory because of insufiiciency of temperature maintained in the furnace when the mixture of fuel-gas and air in the furnace-blast is regulated to produce a neutral or reducing action. The cause of this defect has been due to the inefficiency of the apparatus employed.

In order to maintain the requisite high temperature in the furnace, it is necessary that the gases introduced thereinto should be highly preheated, since otherwise the proper temperature cannot be obtained by the limited combustion permitted in the furnace. The reason for limiting this combustion is to prevent an oxidizing eifect upon the furnacecontents. In order to effect this preheating of the furnace-'gases by the apparatus shown in the accompanying drawings, I use alternately-acting regenerative chambers, each divided into two separate'A passages. These chambers Yhaving been heated, I pass theV air and gas separatelythrough the passages of Serial No. 284,036. (No model.)

one of them, so as to raise these gases to a high temperature, mingle the heated air and fuel-gas on their exit from the regenerator, so as to augment their heat by partial combustion, pass aportion of the partially-consumed fuel-gas through the reducing-furnace, and conduct the residue to the second regenerator, where it passes through one of the regenerator-passages together with heated air,\vhich hasbeenpassedthroughtheotherpassage,thus producing intense heat and quickly raising the regenerator to the necessary temperature. The heating of the gaseous fuel (by which I mean gas and air or gas alone) which is thus effected is very thorough, and the ext-ra mechanical energy required to produce the necessary blast-pressure is more than compensated by the additional increase of temperature due to the better heating of the regenerators and the better combustion of the fuel under greater pressure. It should be noted that although in the specification and drawings I describe the preheating of both fuel-gas and air, yet in some cases the fuel-gas alone may be passed through the rst regenerator. This may be so in case the fuel-gas contains considerable oxygen. The operation of the second regenerator, however, would be the same Whether air be preheated or not in the first regenerator.

In the accompanying drawings, S represents the vertical shaft of a reducing-furnace, having at its base an open hearth H, which is connected with the furnace-shaft by a passage or flue h. This furnace and hearth may be of any suitable construction, since the mechanical details thereof do not form essential features of limitation of my present invention. The hearth H has a tap-hole h4 and may be provided with a removable bottom h2, mounted on bottom plates h3. The furnace S is preferably contracted near the base and may be provided with ordinary water-cooled boshplates S.

L R are hot-blast stoves set at oppositeends of the hearth I-I and connected therewith by neck-dues Z fr. The walls of the stove may be provided with inclosing air-spaces M, and each stove is divided into two or more checkerwork-filled passes or iiues n o a o bv a partition-Wall p.

q is a cold-air flue controlled by a dampe A and connected by flues q q2 with the flues o of the stoves.

V is a valve controlling the flues Q q2, as shown.

S is a fuel-gas inlet controlled by a dam per Gr.

t t' are tlues leading to the iiues n 'n' of the stoves.

T is a valve controlling the Iiues t t.

U is a second coldwair inlet controlled by a damper u.

iis

W is a stack-tine controlled by a damper F, and w is a valve arranged as shown in the drawings.

I shall now describenthe operation of the apparatus as thus constructed. The furnace S being charged with ore andthe proper pro portion of iiux and solid fuel, the gaseous reducing-fuel is supplied thereto in the following mannerzA blast of cold air is passed continuously through the iiue q and by means of the valve V is diverted into one of the tluesq g2. In the drawings this valve is shown in position to cause the passage of the air through the Iiue q into the iiue o of the stove L. Fuelgas is also admitted from theliue s and passes into the iiuet or t', according to the position of the valve T, and thence to the flue n of the stove L. As shown in the drawings, the valve T is set so as toy cause the pas-sage of the gas into the flue t. The valve w is shown in the drawings in proper position to connect the chimney-Hue W with the ue t and the cold-air inlet II with the flue q2. When. the parts are in these positions, the fuel-gas and air from the fines-t and g pass up through the iues 'n' o, which have been previously heated by combustion of fuel-gas therein, and

lhaving been heated in their passage they mingle in the combustion-chamber The quantity of air admitted is so regulated by the damper A in proportion to the volume of fuel-gas that when the air and fuel-gas min gle only a partial combustion ensues. From the combustion-chamber X the burning and superheated gases pass through the flue l over the hearth H. A portion of the gases passes upwardly through the flue h into the reducin g-furnace and through the stock therein. The remainder passes on through the iiue r into the chamber X', where it meets an inf coming current of air passing up through the previously-heated iue o of the stove R.l The fuel-gas and: air unite and in a state of com-l bustion pass down through the flue n and thence through the flue t to the chimney-flue W, th us heating said regenerator-flu'eto ahigh degree, the upper part, however,.being heated more than the lower part and the best conditionsfor effective work being thus secured. The proportion of fuel-gas which passesl through the stove R, instead of pass-ing through ther reducing-furnace,is determined by the extent of opening of the damper F.- If this damper be wide openra large proper# tion of the gas will be diverted from the reA` ducing-furnace and caused to pass through the stove; but if the damper be partially closed the resistance oered to the passage of the fuel-gas through this stove will be such as to cause a greater proportion of the fuelgas to pass through the reducing-furnace. The course of the fuel-gas and air through the flues of the stove R may be reversed from the fuel-gas and air to pass up through the iiues of the stove R and tho outgoing partiallyfconsu'med fuel-gas to pass down through one of the iiues of the stove L, in which it is burned with air from one of the other iiuesof said stove. The valves are thus manipulated as often as may be necessary during the working of the apparatus, and uniform results are best secured by'regularity and frequency in their reversal. By these operations the gas admitted to the reducing-furnace is preheated to a high temperature by the stove through which it passes, its heat being augmented by partial combustion beforeit enters they reducing-furnace, and the stoves are alternately heated to a high degree by the means and mode of operation which I have just described. The conditions of the gases in the Iiuesl and r may be observed by providing small gas-jet outlets b b. Theproportion of air to the combustible gas may be judgedby observing the burning jetsfromthese outlets, and theproportions may be maintained in proper relation to each other to produce the proper reducing action in the furnace by manipulatingthe valves A and. G. From'the above description it will be seen that I am enabled to regulate the mixture ofk gases that enter the furnace, soas to produce any desired degree of reducing power, and at the same time the mixture of the preheated fuel-gasesfor reheating the regenerative material can be regulated so as Yto produce complete'and efficient combustion without interfering with the gasesthat pass into the reducing-furnace.l

I am aware that Siemens and others have arranged regenerative stoves in-v connection with av metallurgie furnace whereby preheated gases are causedv to pass into the furnace; but it has not heretofore been proposed to reheat these stoves with gases resulting from combustion, i-n which gases are introduced that have been preheated in theregenerative material but. are diverted fromk the blast passing; into the furnace.

The scope of my invention. is. not limited tothe use of any particular type of furnace or kind. of fuel, as the ordinary open-hearth furnace would be preferable for certain operin tions. Thus in Fig.y 2 I show the use of the stoves in connection with an open-hearth fur'- IOC IIO

nace H', through which the gases pass directly from one regenerative stove to the other. Neither is it necessary to maintain a reversing action through the furnace, sincev the stoves may be connected by means of a iiue in which this action is maintained, and the furnace may be connected to this flue by means of a separate blast-fine. Thus in Fig. 3 I show such apparatus in which the cornbustion-chalnbers X X are connected by a iue X2, and from this iue a branch iiue X3 leads to the hearth of the metallurgical furnace. In operation ot the apparatus shown in this figure part of the gas passes directly through the iiue X2 from one stove to the other, and a portion is diverted through the iiue X3 to the furnace, the relative volumes of the currents depending on the setting of the valves; also, the regenerative material may be separated into any convenient arrangement and number of parts or chambers, Whereby the furnace-blast may not be contaminated with any gas that it is desired to use for reheating the stove.

I claim- The method of working regenerators, consisting in heating a single surface regenerator by passing products of combustion therethrough, then reversing the current and passing a gas in an opposite direction therethrough, passing through a second preheated regenerator or set of regenerators another gas or gases capable of producing combustion when united therewith, uniting these gases and passing the mixture through a third regenerator or set of regenerators, and reversing the currents through the second and third regenerators While they continue in the saine direction through the first regenerator, substantially as and for the purposes described. 4o

JACOB T. WAINWRIGI-IT. Witnesses:

J. E. DYKMANN, S. C. ALLrsoN. 

